Never Remember or Even Know Your Password

So how do you protect yourself?  How do you walk that fine line and still remain a vigilant superhero in your own saga that is online privacy and protection?

Enter password managers, stage right!

For nearly as long as they’ve been in existence, I’ve not only been skeptical of password manager solutions, but I’ve been downright dismissive of them.  And why wouldn’t I be?  The very idea of storing all of your logins in a single place and with a single vendor seems completely counter-intuitive.  Well-respected journalists at Washington Post have done their own independent reviews and found that even though no software is truly 100% secure, password managers like LastPass take security very seriously by having some of the highest security standards, and have reacted very quickly when issues have arisen.  In fact, the odds of a hacker targeting you, as an individual, are incredibly low anyway.

In short, password managers like LastPass are a great way to secure yourself.  Here’s how I do it for myself…

Quickly Login

It’s one thing when you’re logging into a website or app that you use on a daily basis.  That’s generally easy for any of us to remember.  But what about those websites and apps that you may only use a couple of times a year?  Often times, you may not even remember your username, much less your password.  LastPass makes it super-simple and quick to log in anywhere you’d logged into before while using it.  Your login is automatically entered into the form.  If you have multiple logins on a website, you can choose which one to use. 

If you’re logging into a website for the first time or creating an account, LastPass detects this and allows you to save the login with a single click! 

Generate Passwords

I never use the same password on two different websites anymore.  Instead, I use the "generate secure password" feature to create a random password and apply that when changing my password and creating new user accounts.  This not only helps secure my account in the moment, but it also prevents hacker bots from guessing my login on other websites, should the website in question have its own data breach. 

Use the Plugins & Apps

I have the LastPass web browser plugin installed on my desktops, and the app installed on my phone.  This makes it super-simple for me to log in wherever I find myself.  I can just choose the login, or it may already be entered for me.  ( Now, if only they had an app for my Roku… ) 

Don’t worry, there are some sweet security options to help you secure this process if you tend to be less risk-tolerant. 

Changing Passwords

In the very rare instance that I need to share a website login, I can now do that with ease and peace of mind, because my passwords are all unique, and I can change them within clicks. 

In Closing…

In my line of work, I sometimes have to log in on dozens of websites and apps on any given day.  LastPass has probably saved me at least a hundred hours over the past year by logging me in, generating passwords, and preventing me from having to reset my password or get a username reminder.  I can’t recommend this tool enough. 

What do you think? Do you use a password manager? Are you afraid of them still? Let's chat in the comments below.

Get LastPass for FREE!